A meat-free kitchen that doesn’t feel like one
South Asian and Middle Eastern cooking have some of the richest vegetarian traditions in the world. Lentils, beans, paneer, yogurt and vegetables are cooked with the same care as meat, and many of the most-loved dishes, from daal to hummus, were never meant to include meat at all.
This collection is worked out automatically from each recipe’s ingredients, so it includes every dish with no meat, poultry, fish or eggs. Some recipes use dairy (ghee, yogurt, paneer, cream); check the ingredient list if you’re vegan.
Building a filling vegetarian meal
- Add a protein: a dal, chana masala, rajma or a paneer dish such as palak paneer.
- Add a vegetable: a dry sabzi like aloo gobi or bhindi masala.
- Add something cool: raita or a salad.
- Add bread or rice: roti, paratha, zeera rice.
Lentils with rice or bread give complete protein, which is why daal-chawal and daal-roti are such satisfying everyday meals.
For guests
For a vegetarian dawat, see our vegetarian Indian dinner menu, with a full cooking plan. Turkish zeytinyağlı (olive oil vegetables) and Arabic mezze also make beautiful meat-free spreads.